When it comes to anatomy ― especially female anatomy ― perhaps no body part has confused the internet more than the belly pooch.
Whenever someone posts about fat women they tend to bring up their middle classes ― and the odd number of people do posted about ― others are quick to cry that “it’s not fat, it’s the uterus.”
Take, for example, early 2024, when a man sends a few pictures of a pooch to random women and says, “On behalf of all men, we hate this.”
The pole exploded, and the man was rightly laughed at for his dumb statement. Lots of men love the pooch and went to beat it: “[We] He never authorized this prostitute to speak for us,” answered a young man. The women also responded: “In the name of women, we don’t give them anything.”
But as usual when these things are sent, many people measure up to tell this man that he is ignorant: “That is our womb. “Learn human anatomy,” said one woman.
“Belly fat is literally the womb [or uterus]” is a persistent, popular claim: In 2020, health advocate and nutritionist Colleen Christensen posted a photo on her No Food Rules Instagram account assuring her followers “that [the] the lump in your lower abdomen is your uterus.”
Christensen explained how frustrated he was that he couldn’t get a bowel movement until his friend relieved him by explaining that “that lump is an organ.”
As Christensen quickly learned in his comment section, it’s not really: Internal organs do take up space in your body, but the uterus ― the hard-walled, hollow organ where the fetus grows during pregnancy — is located in the female pelvis between the bladder and the rectum, not the stomach. (To Christensen’s credit, he later updated his post with more information for his followers.)
Dr. Lisa Erlanger, a professor of family medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, told us again in an email: “The bony part contains the uterus and ovaries,” she said. “The hips are wider and angled differently in women, which naturally makes them look different, but the uterus is usually not in what we think of as a stomach.”
There are many other body elements in that region that we need, said Dr. Stephanie Trentacoste McNally, director of OB-GYN services at the Katz Institute for Women’s Health.
“In that part of our anatomy, there are many layers, from the skin to the fascia ― which is the tough tissue that holds you together — muscles, nerves, blood vessels, connective tissue and fat,” he told HuffPost.
Maria Korneeva via Getty Images
But basically, your uterus doesn’t include a visible bump unless you’re pregnant, postpartum, or have a tumor. Uterine fibroids, for example, can cause the uterus to enlarge, leading to a visible bulge.
“The uterus is at least the size of a fist and can be enlarged with medical conditions such as fibroids and endometriosis, and the ovaries can have benign cysts taking up space,” explains Erlanger.
That said, different stages of the menstrual cycle can affect digestion and fluid balance, and that can change the appearance of the body, especially the abdomen, according to Erlanger.
If you’ve had surgery, the skin may heal in a way that creates a pooch, too, Trentacoste McNally said: For example, about 30% of all babies in the US are born by C-section and have a scar from that procedure. pull the skin and create a different shape in the stomach.
Bottom line: You don’t need to forgive the pooch.
Rushing to explain belly fat ― “It’s not fattening; it’s actually a useful thing!” ― it speaks to how we feel about being comfortable with body fat in general. The truth is that it is normal for women to have more fatty tissue in the abdominal region compared to men.
“Under ovarian influence, the body usually has a higher percentage of body fat,” says Erlanger. “This is thought to serve a reproductive function.”
During menopause, abdominal fat is thought to protect bones, mood, sexual function and even brain and heart health by continuing to make small amounts of estrogen, she explains.
Regardless, however, there is nothing wrong with belly fat to be a belly.
“People who don’t have uteruses have belly pooches, and the back of my arm is fat, and there’s no uterus there,” Erlanger said.
Weight fluctuations throughout our lives are very common, and it’s generally healthier to stay at your current body size and shape than to try to slim down or get into a different shape, she added.
What is important, according to our doctors? It is NOT OK to have a pooch because there is a uterus there. It’s okay to have a pooch belly.
“Having compassion for our own bodies and committing to caring for them as they are in ways that respond to our individual values, goals and circumstances is part of the journey,” Erlanger said. This article originally appeared HuffPost.
